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Talk:America
Allusion to Theodore Roosevelt? Alfred is perhaps an allusion to TR, and while this may be pure speculation, I think it is worthy of at least some recognition. When I first laid eyes on Hetalia’s America, I was immediately reminded of T. Roosevelt due to the similarity in glasses and clothing: my suspicions were then confirmed in episode 44, in which Canada tells America that he walks around harassing others with “huge stick,” or something of the sort. Now here’s the thing: TR was usually depicted as a police officer (and Alfred does have little stars on his jacket–a reference to our police force?), regulating countries less fortunate then our own with a “large stick” (see the picture at the end). You see said stick in the background when Canada confronts America about the trouble the latter causes him (see the picture at the end). Also, America really did bring a lot of trouble to Cuba during the time of Roosevelt (and other presidents, of course, such as McKinley), which is why the character of Cuba hates Alfred so much. Coincidence? Over-analyzing? Maybe so. But I’m 90% sure that there is a connection. Picture of Canada confronting America and the stick in the background: http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k44/cicaneo/theory-1.jpg The common "big stick" portrayal with Roosevelt: http://americanhistory.si.edu/Militaryhistory/img/graphics/1937_l.jpg CathyFer 23:24, January 7, 2010 (UTC) *I believe the stars represent the recurring element of a star on America's seals and flag. Cuba hates Alfred because he's a Communist country, and America is (or was) ferociously anti-Communist. Also, to quote my Dictionary, "The Bay of Pigs in Cuba is the location of a failed attempt in 1961 by U.S.-trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow the government of Fidel Castro, resulting in considerable embarrassment for the administration of President John F. Kennedy." Additionally, Cuba is poor and America is rich, so there might be some resentment there. I was just refuting the over-analytical parts, although the rest is very likely––Teddy Roosevelt was a famous and capable President, and surely America wants to emulate his awesomeness. Russia'sLeadPipe 01:11, January 8, 2010 (UTC) *The "carrying a big stick" is most certainly a reference to TR, and I wouldn't be surprised if that stick was actually the stick. As for the stars, yeah, I agree about it being a reference to the Stars and Stripes. However, in terms of actual history, Cuba's animosity with the United States has to do with things besides Communism, going back to pre-Revolution times. I'm a Cuban learning about Cuban history, and from what I can tell Cubans are sort of annoyed that Americans keep interfering in Cuba's history. You know, the Spanish-''American'' war (notice how Cuba's freakin' war of independence does not mention Cuba!), Guantanomy Bay (taken from Cuba in a treaty for its independence that was, in retrospect, a little unfair), that whole Bay of Pigs fiasco, the embargo (probably done more damage to the relationship and to Cuba's economy that anything else, really)... the Communism shtick was important in its time, but I think its role in determining Cuba's animosity towards the US is overstated. I'd say it's the classic story of the US interfering with Latin America, causing resentment (see: Chile, El Salvador, Panama, etc.) rather than a Cold War-esque thing. As for the Cuba being poor and America being rich thing... that's a source of resentment, yes, but really overstated. Kind of like with Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan and "They hate our freedom/richness/whatever thing that's convenient now!". Cubans in Cuba do resent that the US has such cool technology, but they also resent that the US could easily export that technology and chooses not to because of an embargo kept in the name of "democracy". In short, I think that the Cuba-America relationship fails because of America sticking his nose into Cuba's business all the time (the USA wanted to annex Cuba before the Spanish-American war! There were offers to buy the island off Spain, and while it's true that annexation was pretty popular at that time, it's still a little weird). Sorry for the really long post, but I always like to expand on Cuba-America relationships. 11:49, January 26, 2010 (UTC) *Thanks anonymous & Russia'sLeadPipe. You two are absolutely right; I should really polish my argument. I agree with you especially, anon: U.S. intervention in Latin America definitely spurred some animosity there, thanks for providing some examples. CathyFer 22:40, January 27, 2010 (UTC) Production Notes on America ・A "going my way" type of young man who overflows with youthful vitality. He only cares about his own history to the point that it seems to be becoming a complex. ・Because of England's influence has no taste, no matter what kind of colours it has he'll just settle with "cute". But I think he has some more taste left than England. Lately he has been getting into sushi. ・He has such superhuman strength that he can go looking for England while dragging a car behind himself. ・Lately being worried about his fitness he hasn't been doing nothing but exercise and has gotten too much strength. Being so afraid of his rising weight despite exercising, I wonder when he'll realize it's muscles... ・He likes scientific things but he also likes yet unknown things like UFO and UMA. ・He is friendly with the space aliens even though they make horses fly and leave mysterious patterns on the fields. ・He went to Japan to open it up for the world because he was demanding for whales. ・He's quite much quantity over quality. ・Thinks Lithuania is somewhere where you can get by American highways. ・At any rate, since he likes heroes and happy endings, he's sure his future willsurely be like that too. ・In fact it's not that he can't read the situations but that he doesn't on purpose. ・Before, he was a little brother like crybaby who would immediately rely on England or France but getting blown at by the harsh wind of the Wild West, at some point he grew abnormally quickly both mentally and physically. He became somewhat unspoiled child. ・He took reference for making his own house from the houses Sweden and Finland used to live in. ・Has mingled a lot with German people's blood. ・The model of his outward appearance was a Canadian. He was really kind and friendly person and unreasonably kindly made contact with me who couldn't speak good English and got teary eyed quickly when we arrived at America. ・The model for his interior was my teacher at school. The disinterest towards geography is from this teacher. Ceras SanMarina 01:38, 6 July 2009 (UTC) Could the "F" possibly stand for Fitzgerald? America is my favorite! Thats all i gotta say!!!! -Millardman120 I'm super curious and have been for a while now- Does Aph America's (Alfred) and Aph Canada's (Matthew/Mathieu) human names have anything to do with the Alfred Dreyfus affair? I know that Alfred Dreyfus was French as well as his brother Mathieu but it seems like a crazy coincidence, especially if France (along with England) were considered "parental" figures for the Canada and America. There are tons of articles about Alfred Dreyfus but he was mostly important because he was wrongly accused of treason in the 19th and 20th century twice before finally being pardoned and was able into the army again, while he was sent to Devil's Island his brother Mathieu tried to keep his name in the papers and try to somewhat clear his name to an extent. This could be stupid but I was curious, plus what are the chances of it? It's really coincedental. (Side note: Alfred Dreyfus had some pretty fabulous glasses.)